Testing the Waters
by Anticipate
Summary: Amourshipping, SatoSere, etc. oneshot. Takes place during the events of XY 037.


Words in italics represent the thoughts of Serena/Ash depending on the current POV.

Serena's POV

 _This is my fault._

The words ran on replay over and over again in Serena's mind, refusing to release her from the shock of seeing the boy she had waited such a large portion of her life to see again simply vanish into a reflection. She placed her hand for what felt like the millionth time on a mirror in front of her that had not a few hours ago shone brightly in prismatic colors while absorbing one Ash Ketchum into... whatever it was that mirrors had inside of them. The freezing surface eerily mimicked ice in spite of the cave's moderate temperature, as if the mirror was somehow going beyond showing Serena a mere physical reflection of herself and had copied the cold despair she felt inside. Reflection Cave was supposed to be an enjoyable route for travelers and tourists alike to take, boasting amazing naturally occurring mirrors and, perhaps more importantly, a direct route to Shalour City, where Ash was to have his next gym battle with Korrina, the Shalour City gym leader. Serena chose this route for the group with these things in mind, and she had to admit that she would have agreed with the hype about the cave's greatness had one of the mirrors not decided to get a much closer look at Ash while he was running ahead on his own. A small smile flickered onto Serena's lips as she remembered how headstrong Ash could actually be, how he was so quick to rush off into the next adventure, be it helping others out of danger or exploring unseen territory, but it was quickly extinguished as the girl's hand sent messages of pain from the mirror's freezing surface to remind her of where that headstrong personality had landed the aspiring pokémon master this time.

 _Because of me._

As Serena retracted her hand once more to allow warmth to flow through it again, the train of guilty thought continued to roll at full speed through her consciousness.

 _Why did I have to suggest this stupid cave? We could have found another way to Shalour City, we could have taken a boat, gone back to Lumiose City, we could have done literally anything but this. How could I have let this happen to Ash, to Ash of all people? I should have... I should have done something to protect him for once, the one time he needed me. But how do you protect someone from a mirror? Is Ash doomed because I made one terrible suggestion? Is...Is the universe trying to keep us from being together? No, no... that can't be. I can't think like this. It isn't going to bring him back._

Another small sigh escaped her lips as the all-too-familiar sound of bickering suddenly reached her ears. It seemed as though the Lumiose siblings, Serena's other travelling companions Bonnie and Clemont, were on each other's nerves again. The argument sounded like it was escalating and Serena could hear them very clearly.

"Bonnie, please, I'm trying to work over here!" The inventor was busily trying to finish a second invention to attempt to bring Ash out of the mirror, as his first attempt was still smoking slightly in a scrap pile that Clemont had very carefully shoved off to the side of the cave passage. Bonnie wasn't about to let her brother off with one complaint.

"You won't let me help you, Clemont! I want to help get Ash back, too!" Clemont sighed.

"Bonnie, if you really want to help, please go try to console Serena. This is clearly hitting her very hard." Bonnie rolled her eyes in an exaggerated fashion.

"You know I've tried five hundred times already. She isn't budging from that mirror, and I can't really blame her. Talking isn't going to fix out problem. If you hadn't blown up yet another invention, we would have Ash back by now." Clemont realized he was running out of persuasive actions and let his irritation drive him into big brother mode.

"Bonnie, I'm telling you that I'm working on it! Just let me put a few finishing touches on my prototype while you keep watch for wild pokémon with Dedenne and Chespin." The young scientist released Chespin from its pokéball, the grass-type blissfully unaware of the dire circumstances.

Bonnie huffed and threw a bit of a fit, but thankfully saw the logic in Clemont's words for once and moved away to play guardsmen with the two pokémon. Serena glanced to where Clemont was working and Bonnie was now guarding a small ways to the right of her into the cave, her two lemon haired friends once again deeply absorbed in their business as if no argument had happened. It amazed Serena how the two could go from 0 to 100 and back again on a moment's notice. Seeing them so enthralled made her feel a bit guilty. They were all busy working to get Ash back, and here she was, sitting with her hand on a mirror.

She had completely left her home with her only goal being to reunite with the crush of her youth, and when she finally caught up to him, and he invited her to travel with him, it was like a ridiculous, impossible fantasy becoming an amazing reality. Ash's words of encouragement to never give up had lifted the female trainer up and gotten her through more difficult occasions than she cared to count or mention, and now here she was, useless to help the one person she had left her home for and had helped her so many times while her friends were working so hard to try and return him from his reflective prison. _I'm so sorry Ash... that I can't do more for you. That I can't ever seem to be adequate enough to get you through times like this, to give you some of the strength and courage you share so freely with me, that I'm not strong enough to tell you... how I really feel._ Serena blushed slightly at her own thoughts being the sole confident to her true emotions as Clemont was putting the finishing touches on the sequel to his ruined magnemite-shaped alternate dimension machine.

"Annnnd done!" Clemont stood proudly, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow as Bonnie stopped her watch and Serena tore her gaze from the mirror to witness Clemont's latest creation.

While everyone was used to the sight of Clemont's failures and exploding machines, Serena was holding out hope that he could finally strike a success this time, if it meant correcting the mistake she made. Clemont had decided to change the design to resemble a magneton this time, maybe under the impression that an evolution would make his machine stronger. Serena spoke up for the first time since she had silently begun staring into the mirror after Clemont's first invention had failed.

"Will this... bring him back?" She didn't dare try to let a trickle of hope run into that question, but it flowed out in her now desperate tone regardless.

Clemont started at the sound of Serena's voice, appearing shocked that she was even paying attention, considering the vigil she had committed herself to by the mirror once he had been forced to admit that he needed a few hours to try and put a new machine together by his little sister. "Erm, yes, Serena, I am fairly confident that, this time, science will get that portal open. I fixed all the bugs of the last machine, and as long as we put our faith in science, Ash will surely come back!"

Bonnie looked at Clemont skeptically but said nothing, the absence of the boy who normally hung on every sentence Clemont used with the word science in it dulling the sharpness of even Clemont's biggest critic's tongue. Serena stood carefully and walked over to Bonnie, taking her small hand in her own. "Then please, Clemont... please get Ash back for us." _For me,_ she silently added, before blushing again as a result of her thoughts, which thankfully went unnoticed by the siblings.

Clemont's glasses somehow glinted in the low lighting of the cave and he began his very familiar routine. "The future is now, thanks to science! Clemontic gear, on! I call it, the Get-Ash-Back-From-Another-Dimension-Machine Mark 2!"

Bonnie, unable to hold back any longer despite the circumstances, deadpanned. "Even now you can't be bothered to come up with a decent name."

Clemont ignored her and set about turning on his machine. "Ok, power, ON!" He flipped a switch on the machine, and the mechanical magneton whirred to life as the three travelers looked on, one with pride, one for signs of explosions, and another with a small hope. The mechanical construct began to charge itself up, creating a crackling white energy source in the center of its three magnemite bodies. Clemont was closely monitoring it.

"Not bad, not bad. Power levels are steadily rising, but the mirror isn't having any sort of reaction. It appears as if I may have to switch into maximum discharge mode." Clemont flipped another switch on his creation, causing both Serena and Bonnie, on instinct, to become concerned and take a small step back. The whirring of the machine began to grow louder and more strained, until the invention itself started to whine as steam poured out from all of its openings.

"Uh-oh..." muttered Clemont. "Get down!"

The girls didn't need to be told twice and quickly obeyed as Clemont's latest creation met the same fate as it's predecessor. When Serena looked up again, all she saw was a smoking heap of twisted metal and a sheepish Clemont hiding behind a rock a few feet away. Serena, surprisingly calmly, rose and walked over to Clemont, helping him up while smiling dejectedly. "Thanks for trying anyways Clemont. I can't understand how difficult it is to try and build things like this on a whim. Maybe you should... take a break. We don't want to risk damaging the mirror with an... you know... an accident."

Clemont simply nodded quietly, refusing to meet his friend's gaze. Bonnie joined her brother and began to berate him harshly for failing to help Ash again while Serena, the energy of hope crushed once again within her and the energy for conversation fading, left Clemont at the mercy of his sister and returned to the mirror. She again sat at its side before placing her hand on it to see if the invention had had any effect on it at all. The explosion hadn't fazed the mirror in the slightest, and its freezing touch turned her hand back into the conduit between her emotions and the mirror it had served as since Ash disappeared. it wasn't until she looked up at herself that she saw the tears welling up in her eyes.

The sight of tears seemed to be the trigger that allowed them to begin running down the distraught girl's face, and as her sobbing grew steadily louder and more noticeable, the two bickering siblings finally quieted to the sound of their companion's no longer silent mourning. Clemont was confused, unsure of why a simple setback was causing such a massive reaction in Serena, while Bonnie read the situation with a kind of knowledge her brother, with all of his book learning, could never even begin to understand.

"Clemont, could you maybe go and set up the tent over there by those rocks? You know, just in case we have to spend the night here. I'll handle this." Bonnie turned her charm to the maximum, batting her eyelashes and swaying back and forth on her toes.

Clemont, wanting to feel helpful after his failures and unsure of what to do about Serena, nodded and obliged, while Bonnie made her way over to Serena and sat down next to her, pulling a few small tissues out of her yellow pouch. Serena accepted the gesture wordlessly, and as she struggled to dry her eyes, Bonnie suddenly wrapped her arms around Serena's waist. Surprised, Serena quickly looked at the younger Lumiose sibling, and was met with a smile upon her release.

"It's okay to cry sometimes. We cry when we're upset over the people we really care about, right? You know you can talk to me, Serena."

Serena finished drying her tears and turned to fully face Bonnie. "I... I'm sorry, Bonnie. I appreciate you trying to cheer me up and I'm sorry to make you worry, but I just can't...well...um..." _I don't have the nerve to tell anyone how I really feel. Why can't you just say that?!_

"I... just want to wait here for him to come back." Bonnie sighed. "You can't completely depend on Ash for everything you know. You have to be able to handle yourself in times like this when he isn't around to help you."

Serena's eyes widened in shock at Bonnie, partially stunned at her bluntness and in how her advice seemed to address the guilt that had been nagging at her at the same time. This didn't halt her indignant reply. "I do not depend on Ash for everything! Fennekin and I handled ourselves just fine before I reunited with him, and even before that my mother and I got along just fine without any problems, so I certainly do not depend on Ash Ketchum for everything! He's just a very good friend and I'm really worried about him and I want to be here when he comes back!" Serena stopped to breathe as Bonnie looked surprised and just a little scared at Serena's outburst.

"I... I'm sorry Serena, I really didn't mean to come off that harsh. I just wanted to cheer you up. I shouldn't have said that. I'm really sorry." The young girl appeared to have reached the edge of tears, a cliff Serena had walked along herself far too often over the past twelve hours.

Serena's angry shock began to ebb away as she realized she was in danger of making the young girl cry, driving home how hard the disappearance had been for everyone, not just her. She proceeded to wrap her arms around the young girl in a warm embrace. "No, Bonnie, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you. Maybe... maybe I do depend on others a lot, but I feel like the people I depend on really bring out the best in who I am. That's one reason I wanted to journey with Ash and you guys. I'm hoping that you can help me find, who I'm, well, really meant to be. So don't cry, please. You've done more than enough for me already." Serena released Bonnie and she smiled at the young girl, causing Bonnie to smile back. "Thank you for talking to me Bonnie. It means a lot that you would care enough to keep trying to cheer me up."

Bonnie gave Serena a wink. "Of course! Never give up until it's over, right?!"

The words seemed to hang in the air a bit longer than they should have before Serena was able to shake off the feelings she had associated with that particular phrase to respond. "Yep! Why don't you go and help Clemont now? I'm going to keep waiting here, for when Ash comes back."

Bonnie nodded and stood to leave, only to giggle and lean back down to whisper in Serena's ear- "Oh, and by the way, don't think I haven't noticed."

Serena tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Noticed what, Bonnie?"

The young girl smiled the smug smile of someone who knew a secret and wanted to share it. "Your feelings for Ash, silly! Let me know if you want me to ask him to be a keeper for you, ok?"

Serena let out a small eep as she stared at Bonnie in disbelief, blushing furiously while the Lumiose girl gave Serena another quick hug before running off to help Clemont win his war with the group's tent's efforts to avoid being pitched before Serena had a chance to properly respond. _Wha-...am...am... I that easy to read? How did Bonnie pick up on how I felt while Ash has consistently failed? I guess he's just really, incredibly, frustratingly dense. What am I supposed to do then? Am I even doing the right thing? Does that even matter if I might never see him again?!_ Serena's emotions began to run away from her again, and she leaned forward to rest her forehead on the mirror, her hat tumbling off her head in the process. _I guess I didn't realize... even with my crush... how much he really meant to me... how much I really do rely on him and need him with me..._

"Ash..." The name barely escaped Serena's lips. She saw the tears threatening to pour from her eyes again and quickly rubbed her eyes with her hands. "What would you say if I told you how I felt? Would you come back, or I lose you for good?" Again, the whisper quietly flowed into the mirror, too soft for even an echo to receive it.

"I'm so sorry, Ash... please come back. Clemont and Bonnie need you. I need you. I don't know if you can hear me, but... I really miss you. So please, if you can hear this... come back. I can't lose you again." Serena moved her hands together and placed them both on the mirror. As she did so, the mirror suddenly reacted. The cold surface flashed brightly for a split second, and the freezing temperature of the mirror suddenly became warm to the touch, a change so jarring that Serena recoiled both of her hands in shock. When she gathered the courage to touch the clear wall again, it was as cold as ever. She looked at her fingers in disbelief, before looking at the mirror again.

"Do you... understand how I feel?" Serena's reflection said nothing outside of marking her as potentially insane for talking to a reflection of herself. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be many options left for the pokémon trainer to resort to. Acting on desperate impulse to do anything that could return Ash from his prison in the mirror, Serena suddenly stood up and dug into her pockets, pulling out the picture she had taken with Ash, Korrina and the others. She made the picture face the mirror and pointed to Ash.

"If you can really understand me... then I need this one back from you. He belongs here, not... wherever he is right now. If you can actually understand me... please bring this one back." She touched the picture to the mirror. Frozen. She held it for the longest moment of her life before sighing and removing the picture, carefully returning it to her pocket so as not to damage it. "Okay... fine then. Do what you will. I'm not going anywhere until Ash returns. I refuse to give up until it's over. Ash is going to come right back through this mirror so that I can tell him-"

"Tell him what?"

Serena jumped roughly five feet in the air as Clemont suddenly appeared by her side. "Clemont?! I-I didn't say anything ! You... you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Clemont rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, Serena. Didn't mean to startle you. It's not a big deal. I just wanted to let you know that the tents are set up and we're getting some food ready, if you're hungry."

Serena recovered from her shock and shook her head. "Thanks, Clemont, but I'm not leaving this spot. I'm going to wait right here until Ash returns."

Clemont sighed and shrugged. "Worth a shot. I'm going to keep Bonnie distracted. Please let me know if something happens to the mirror." Serena solemnly nodded and, as she returned her gaze to the object of so many of her emotions for the last few hours, she paused and spoke. "Oh, and Clemont?"

Clemont turned, wearing an innocent smile on his face. "Yes, Serena?"

"I really do appreciate the effort you've put in for Ash today. It means... it means a lot to me that you would be willing to help him like that."

Clemont beamed widely at the praise. "Of course! Ash is my friend, and so are you. I would do anything to help my friends if they were in trouble."

Serena smiled warmly and thanked Clemont again, wishing him luck with Bonnie before giving the mirror her full attention once more. She had to be one of the only girls out there looking at a mirror to try and see something that wasn't in her reflection right now. The thought gave Serena pause as Clemont, seeing Serena return to her vigil, walked off to play with Bonnie, or rather keep her from destroying their little campsite with one of her play sessions.

 _It's time to stop looking and take action. I won't see what I want to see if I can't create it for myself._ Serena glanced around to make sure no one was watching before she brought her face closer to the mirror, lowering her voice to a whisper so as to avoid anyone(Clemont) hearing her.

"Ash...I'm not changing what I said. You're going to come back, and somehow I'm going to tell you how I feel. I realize now just how... dangerous it can be to hold these feelings inside, testing the waters when a hurricane can hit at any moment. One way or another, when you come back Ash, I promise that I'm going to make a move."

With that ultimatum, Serena backed her head away from the mirror's surface and waited with her hand on the frigid mirror as the minutes slowly stretched into hours. When the sun began to go down, Clemont and Bonnie rejoined Serena, as, true to her word, she hadn't moved. At this point, Serena was barely acknowledging what her companions were saying, instead focusing all of her attention on the mirror, hoping, praying, wishing to see the mirror glow brilliantly as it did before and return her crush to her. Perhaps that was why when the mirror finally did begin to glow again, it took her a minute to register the fact that the mirror was doing anything but rejecting her now innumerable attempts at getting through to her crush. When Serena did reclaim her senses, the sight brought before her eyes baffled her.

Ash's POV

Ash Ketchum was tired. He had been stuck in a strange mirror world all day and the stress of having to make it back before sundown was starting to get to him. As he and the mirror versions of himself and his friends ran to the mirror Reflection Cave, he felt again the same aching longing that was familiar and unfamiliar to him at the same time. He did recognize the feeling as a desire to see his friends again, a familiar sensation that came around whenever he and his travelling companions were separated. It wasn't that the mirror versions of his friends were necessarily bad, they just... well, they weren't the same people he had built his friendships with during his journey. Regardless, that didn't explain why this time felt differently compared to all the other times he had gotten lost or separated from everyone, which was admittedly often. He allowed his mind to wander past the familiar territory of pokémon battles and food in a rare moment to consider the phenomenon.

 _What's wrong with me? Am I catching a cold or something? Or would that be a fever in this world? Ugh, thinking is NOT my thing! I'll ask Clemont when I get back. Science is so amazing that it could definitely explain this. Maybe Serena might know something too..._ Ash had slowed his pace as his mind sped up, causing mirror Serena to turn back and yell at him, "Pick it up, other Ash! We aren't going to make it with a flimsy pace like that!"

Ash was jolted out of his thoughts and he looked at mirror Serena. "Right, sorry. Full steam ahead!" Ash broke out into a run again as mirror Serena simply sighed and sprinted to catch up with mirror Clemont, who had quickly left them all in the dust as Ash slowed down. As the command still rang in the aspiring pokémon master's head, Ash's memory seemed to click into place.

 _Maybe it is partially these mirror people. Them being the opposite of my friends is like forcing me to see everything I like about them without them actually being there. After all, Serena is so much nicer, kinder, and, well, more aware of people's feelings than anyone else I know, especially her rude and dominating counterpart. Wait, when did I think like that about Serena? Man, what is wrong with me today? I can't think like this now. There's the cave. I need to focus on getting home first._

Ash was reaching his mental strange limits, which was really saying something considering his previous experiences while travelling, so when he finally reached the mirror that he had entered this strange world through, he was extremely relieved and desperate to force the door to his world to open for him again. Maybe this is what really gave him the strength to open the portal from his side in spite of his conflicted thoughts. When it did open, his face lit up as he realized he would be able to see his friends again, his mouth verbalizing their names to them as he saw them. Clemont... Bonnie... and Serena.

 _Especially Serena. What?_

Ash blinked and realized in his momentary lapse of focus that the portal between his world and the mirror world had started to drift apart, an endless void of expanding purple standing as the final barrier between Ash and home. Running on whatever adrenaline he had left, Ash grabbed his partner Pikachu and jumped for it as his friends from the other side reached out their hands to catch him. He quickly realized he wasn't quite going to make it, and started calling out as he felt himself falling deep into nothingness below him... when he was caught. Serena's ice cold hand gripped his arm, and, with the siblings helping out, pulled him to safety. Ash quickly thanked them and exchanged goodbyes with his new friends in the mirror world, but his mind again began to drift as he finished explaining his strange journey to his friends and packing up the group's supplies to travel out of the cave.

 _Why especially Serena? is it because she needs more encouragement than the siblings? Or maybe it's because I've known her longer than most people. Yeah, that's it. I like her more because I've known her longer. That makes sense._

Ash nodded happily to himself, that mystery now solved. Still, the question nagging in his mind refused to completely disappear, and, dense as the kanto native was, even he couldn't ignore that something felt off now, even as the group finally reached the exit of the cave that had tried to send Ash on a one way trip to another world. Not even the beautiful nature around him, which confirmed at least that he was in the right world, was enough to end the irritation that stuck with him ever since his little excursion ended. On the contrary, it only seemed to become more resilient as Ash worked harder and harder to ignore it, and he was about to ask Pikachu to shock him to try and jolt his memory around before he noticed that Serena had stopped suddenly.

 _Serena... maybe she would be able to help. She's better at, well, emotions than I am._

Ash realized he had just kept walking while he thought and quickly turned around to face Serena, thankfully only a few feet away from her. While her face was neutral, even Ash could pick up on the nervous tone she carried and the worry in her eyes when she spoke. What he didn't see coming was the question she asked, and how easily his response rolled off his tongue, as if he had been rehearsing the moment for years.

Serena's POV

Serena's joy, bewilderment, and relief surrounding Ash's return quickly faded in the wake of her previous conviction. It was easy for the trainer to tell a mirror what she wanted and planned on doing, but taking the initiative to speak to a real person, let alone the object of her affection, had quieted her nerve rather effectively, and she began to berate herself again as the cave exit finally came into view.

 _Enough with the self-pity, Serena. Remember what mirror me said. Focus on how much I want to travel with Ash, and then take that desire and use it to ask him. It doesn't have to be direct. Yes, I won't ask him directly, but I have to try something now. I can't promise myself that I'll get another chance._ Taking the opportunity with her fear briefly suppressed, Serena mustered all of her courage to put on a straight face and speak up to Ash as they exited the cave. The kalosean girl put every freezing tear she had shed into the meaning of her words, into her desire to stick with the crush, no, love she had held onto for so long and wanted to hold onto until the end, no matter what.

"Ash... We'll always be together from now on, right?"


End file.
